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You wont believe how easy and DELICIOUS homemade Eggnog is, and this recipe really is the best! Thick and creamy with the perfect mild flavor and hint of nutmeg. You'll never buy store-bought eggnog again!
Eggnog
I absolutely love eggnog! I have nothing against store-bought eggnog–we have it all the time in our fridge this time of year–but this homemade eggnog recipe is truly what dreams are made of! If you've ever thought you didn't like it, you just have to try it made from scratch.
Several years ago I sought out to make homemade eggnog. My first attempt was not a success and left my husband cringing. Let's just say that the completely “raw egg” method of making eggnog is just not for me.
I pressed forward, determined to succeed, and ended up loving this recipe from Cuisine at Home. I used ground nutmeg instead of fresh, because I always have ground on hand. I also ignored their ice-water bath suggestion and just refrigerated it instead.
The end result was liquid gold, and it's become our family's favorite eggnog recipe ever since! Seriously, this homemade recipe will “WOW” even the biggest eggnog snob! For a fun flavor twist, try my Pumpkin Spice Eggnog recipe!
This eggnog recipe is thick, sweet, creamy and smooth, with the perfect flavor. It doesn't contain alcohol (if you'd like to add some, read on for my suggestions), but we are non-alcohol drinkers at my house, and I wanted an eggnog recipe my kids can enjoy too.
How to make eggnog:
Start by whisking the egg yolk and sugar together in a small bowl. Then, in a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine cream, milk, salt, and nutmeg and stir the mixture until it just reaches a simmer. Next temper the eggs by adding small spoonfuls of the hot mixture to the egg mixture.
Stir each spoonful and once most of the hot mixture has been added, add the entire mixture back to the saucepan. Continue cooking and whisking for just another minute or two until it barely thickens. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Then remove it from the heat and add the vanilla. Refrigerate the eggnog mixture until chilled.
We like to serve it with a some whipped cream and an extra little dash of cinnamon and nutmeg on top.
What type of alcohol goes in eggnog?
If you would like to add alcohol to your eggnog, choose a drink with a high alcohol concentration to help counterbalance the sweetness of the eggnog. Common choices of alcohol to add to eggnog include brandy, rum, bourbon or whisky.
Don't miss my Eggnog French Toast!
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Homemade Eggnog
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ground cinnamon, , for topping
- alcohol, optional, see note
Instructions
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and creamy.
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, milk, nutmeg and salt. Stir often until mixture reaches a bare simmer.
- Add a big spoonful of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Repeat, adding a big spoonful at a time, to temper the eggs.
- Once most of the hot milk has been added to the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan on the stove.
- Whisk constantly for a minute or so, until the mixture is just slightly thickened (or until it reaches about 160 degrees F on a thermometer). It will thicken more as it cools.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, and alcohol*, if using.
- Pour the eggnog through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher or other container and cover with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate until chilled. It will thicken as it cools. If you want a thinner, completely smooth consistency, you can add the entire mixture to a blender with 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk and blend until smooth.
- Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, and fresh whipped cream, if desired.
- Store homemade eggnog in the fridge for up to one week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
This is my second time making this and it is so good! I made homemade whip cream with it and it literally tastes like ice cream!!
Can I ask how you made whipped cream from
This? Wouldn’t the added milk and ingredients to the cream make the eggnog not able to whip up into a fluffy whip cream? Ty! 🙂 I’d love to learn
She made whipped cream to accompany the drink.
You add the whipped cream to top it off at the end when your put it in your glass.
If you’d like eggnog flavored whipped cream you can add eggnog syrup or extract instead of vanilla to your whipping cream
Ummm, it’s exactly the same recipe for an ice cream base that NYT Cooking uses. Unfrozen nutmeg ice cream.
That’s because the custard for homemade ice cream is the same as the custard for egg nog, pudding, custard pie.
I made this eggnog for Christmas Eve. It is out of this world delicious!
Oh. My. Word. So delicious and so easy! As others have said…I’ll never buy eggnog again! Thank you so much for sharing!
Oh wow!!!! This is awesome!!!! My husband loved it!!
Delish my guests really enjoyed this at a safe distance of course
So easy, yummy but wanted to thin it out just a tad. My plan is to spice it up later with a bit of fireball cinnamon whiskey 😋..
fireball is the best for this!!!!!
I absolutely love this recipe. It was such a hit with my family (who thought they didn’t like eggnog…lol). This will become a tradition for every holiday.
I just finished making this (not even cool yet), and I know it is going to be a favorite recipe. Can’t wait for it to get cool and to add a little rum, brandy, and bourbon. Yum!
Amazeballs
Amazing; best tasting eggnog I’ve made in years – not too sweet, not too heavy. And so easy! I’ll use this every year
I wish I could give it 4.5 stars. It’s a wonderful recipe that makes the perfect texture of eggnog except it’s way too sweet.
My husband made AB’s eggnog recipe before I made this one, and while this recipe is far superior, the sweetness level of Alton Brown’s recipe is definitely more bearable (1/3 cup sugar).
Hello I made this eggnog taste great I really did enjoy and will be making this again plus it was easy to follow direction
The constant whisking ented up just cooking the eggs making the whole thing a chunky egg cream
Store was all out and I wasn’t about to go eggnog-less through the week, so I made a batch of this last weekend. It turned out AMAZING: nice and thick and way better than any store-bought kind I’ve ever had, my boys and I all agreed it was easily the best we’d ever had. I went big on the next batch and tripled the recipe to share some as gifts. While the flavor turned out great, it wasn’t nearly as thick as the first, smaller batch. So last night I tried two more small batches in hopes of returning to the thick consistency, but this morning upon checking the chilled bottles, they were also thin like the large batch. Can’t figure out what happened with the first batch that caused it to be so much thicker (and better, in my opinion) – have been researching “egg tempering” and trying to figure out if something in that part of the process “happened” differently the first time such as different temperatures of the mix or the tempered eggs, letting it cool longer at a certain point in the process, etc. I used the same ratios each batch – exactly according to this recipe – and it’s crazy to me that the first one turned out so much thicker than the subsequent ones. Trying to find that thick magic – anybody have thoughts/suggestions? Not looking to add another agent like xanthan gum – I know it can be done with just these ingredients because I didn’t add anything to the first round! 🙂 Thanks in advance to the author for posting a great recipe and to anybody that has any advice, happy holidays! -Don